The distributor of electronics components and enterprise-computing products has posted declining sales for more than a year as an uncertain global economy induced cautious business activity. In response, Arrow launched an incremental productivity-enhancement program in February that was expected to reduce annual expenses by $40 million.

Arrow Electronics reported a profit of $89.9 million, or 86 cents a share, down from $114.4 million, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring charges and other items, earnings were up slightly at $1.12 from $1.11.

Sales increased 3 percent to $5.31 billion.

The company in May forecast per-share earnings of 95 cents to $1.07 a share on revenue between $4.9 billion and $5.3 billion.

Gross margin narrowed to 13.0 percent from 13.3 percent. Restructuring and litigation charges more than doubled to $20.7 million.

Sales in the components division, the biggest contributor to the top line, dropped 1.6 percent. The enterprise-computing segment’s sales were up 12 percent.

For the current quarter, Arrow projected per-share earnings of $1.14 to $1.26 on sales of $4.9 billion and $5.3 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently expected $1.03 and $5.08 billion, respectively.

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